Shimon Systems Inc. today announced its Bio-NetGuard™ WiFi Security Solution. Bio-NetGuard uses biometric fingerprint verification to authenticate users instead of the equipment when a system accesses a WiFi network

“One of the fundamental weaknesses of most wireless networks at small-to-medium businesses and home offices is that any equipment within range can gain access to company WiFi resources,” said Dr. Baldev Krishan, president and CEO of Shimon Systems, in a prepared statement. “Small, medium and large companies can now prevent unauthorized use of their WiFi networks resources, save bandwidth, and filter out rogue access points.”

Bio-NetGuard uses a laptop’s fingerprint reader or one of several USB and PCMCIA card sensors and matches the reading with what the company claims is “virtually no performance penalty.” In addition, “Bio-NetGuard prevents client association with WiFi access points that are not WPA/WPA 2.0 configured or authorized by the administrator.”

The Bio-NetGuard unit is plug-and-play and connects to WiFi access points and LAN routers; installation takes about five minutes. It can protect common 802.11a, 802.11b, and 802.11g wireless networks and is compliant with the 802.11i standard (also called WPA/WPA2.0). Bio-NetGuard works with several WiFi access point devices, including units from NetGear, Linksys, Cisco, D-Link, and Bountiful, with additional announcements of hardware unit compatibility coming.

A Bio-NetGuard unit can secure multiple WiFi access points connected to the same router, so authenticated users can freely and seamlessly roam between access points -- even those from another vendor -- without re-authenticating.

Bio-NetGuard, regardless of how many units are installed on an enterprise LAN, is managed with a single administrative interface. The device is available in a fingerprint-only version, as well as a two-factor fingerprint and password authentication version.